Any Given Sunday (1999)

ANY GIVEN SUNDAY is a long, loud blur. Good luck following even
*half* of Ollie Stone's frantic football film, as nearly all of the
game footage is of the handheld, varying speed, ultra-close-up, is-
he-aping-Michael-Bay-or-what? variety. (On the story side, the
subplots can get a bit confusing, as well. What was that business
between Cameron Diaz's team owner and Charleton Heston's league
commish, anyway?) Off-field, the two-and-three-quarter-hour film
(ugh) is only *slightly* less in-your-face. (And the award for
Most Yelling in a Motion Picture goes to...) The cast is extra-
appealing, tho, from James Woods' ethics-challenged M.D. to Ann-
Margaret's lush of a mother to the team owner. Pacino is great;
Quaid is great; Jamie Foxx is great. Numerous pigskin pros also
appear, such as Jim Brown's assistant coach, who holds his own in a
low-key scene with Al. (Now there's a screen pairing you don't see
every day...) Eh, this is one of those "sum of parts" movies,
where the bits are better than the big picture. You'll laugh;
you'll wince; you'll watch your watch. And, if you're like me and
amazed at the hundreds of split-second shots, you'll wonder just
how many hours of raw footage was filmed. Now *that's* an editing
job! (Rated "R"/165 min.)
Grade: C
Copyright 2000 Michael J. Legeros
Movie Hell is a trademark of Michael J. Legeros